Civil Society Rejects Indonesia as Host of World Tobacco Conference

Jakarta, MINA – A network of civil society organizations dedicated to tobacco control has rejected Indonesia’s proposal to host the World Tobacco Asia (WTA) and World Vape Show in Surabaya on October 9-10, 2024.

The network, which includes tobacco control organizations in Indonesia such as the Indonesian Child Protection Agency (LPAI), has firmly rejected these global tobacco and e-cigarette aimed events at the Asian markets.

“These events could undermine efforts to protect children’s health rights, particularly as Surabaya aims to become a fully Child-Friendly City by 2024, having already achieved this status six times,” explained Seto Mulyadi, commonly known as Kak Seto, Chairman of LPAI, during a press meeting in Jakarta on Friday.

Similarly, Dr. Emma Rachmawati, Vice Chair of the Muhammadiyah Health Advisory Council (MPKU), stated that Muhammadiyah and its members hope all parties will supervise and ensure the implementation of Government Regulation (PP) No. 28 of 2024 on Health, especially concerning the control of addictive substances, including any violations such as those by the WTA.

“We support protecting children and adolescents from early exposure to negative environmental influences from the food, beverage, and tobacco industries, which clearly have adverse health effects,” said Emma.

Dr. Mukhaer Pakkana warned that such covert promotional activities are counterproductive to the spirit of PP 28/2024.

“Events like the WTA could foster economic dependence on the tobacco industry, which poses a problem when countries or regions are working to reduce tobacco consumption to improve public health,” he concluded. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)